January 18, 2006

Bird flu cripples East Europe's poultry industry

As Turkey struggles with bird flu, neighbouring countries are feeling the heat.

Poultry sales in Bulgaria and Romania have been halved following the latest outbreak.

Sales had been expected to recover in Romania after an outbreak in October but the current situation in Turkey dashed any hopes of that. Monthly sales in Romania have dropped by 40 percent or 7,000 tonnes from the level recorded in September. Bird flu has hit fowls in 26 villages in Romania since October but there were no human cases of the disease.

Hungarian producers were hoping for a recovery in the year-end holiday season, as bird flu temporarily abated and a $1 million promotion campaign to promote Hungarian poultry was launched.

Losses from lower sales and higher storage costs have reached around US$12.05 million, Laszlo Takacs, director of Hungary's Poultry Product Council told Reuters.

In other parts of Europe, poultry industries in France and Italy are still reeling from lower sales, Spain is recovering, while those in Germany and Britain remained intact.

In France, Europe's biggest poultry producer, demand has dropped 20 percent  since the beginning of the year after recovering over the Christmas period, the farm minister said this week. The French government promised US$7.28 million to the industry to help compensate for lower sales and prices, but farmers' groups said the amount was inadequate.

Sales in Italy also fell by up to 50 percent, causing US$600 million in losses.

Poland recorded falls in poultry prices, but producers were optimistic about consumption as exports are rising.